Display rack having j-shaped pockets



April 24, 1956 H. J. RUBENSTEIN 2,

DISPLAY RACK HAVING J-SHAPED POCKETS Filed Aug. 20. 1952 United States Patent This invention relates to improvements in display racks, and has for its primary aim the provision of wire structure including a plurality of novel trays for holding articles of merchandise, the trays themselves, and the supports therefor being formed and arranged to render the entire rack easily and inexpensively manufactured appreciably more compact than has heretofore been possible in structures of this type, strong, durable, attractive and capable of handling a large number of separate commodities in a relatively small space.

It is common practice today to display cards, books, magazines and the like, by pocketing the same in supports therefor in the nature of trays with the articles of merchandise resting upon the normally lowermost edge thereof, but many of such articles are relatively high when sopositioned, rendering the same space-consuming.

It is accordingly, the most important object of this invention to provide a display rack having pockets that are provided with support means capable of holding the pockets themselves in a position for accommodating the relatively .high articles of merchandise aforementioned, yet utilizing all available space and thereby rendering the rack neat and compact.

Another important object hereof is to improve upon the display rack forming the subject matter of my United States Letters Patent No. 2,560,896, dated July 17, 1951, and upon the rack forming the subject matter of my co-pending application for United States Letters Patent, Serial No. 236,579, filed July 13, 1951, this being a continuation in part of said co-pending application.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a display rack having J-shaped pockets made pursuant to one form of my present invention.

Fig. 2 is a side elevational view thereof.

Fig. 3 is a front, perspective view of a modified form of the present invention.

'Fig. 4 is a perspective view of another form of the present invention; and

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of a fourth form of the display rack made pursuant hereto.

In Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawing there is illustrated a preferred form of display rack made according to the improvements hereof that includes a tray broadly designated by the numeral 10, having a bottom portion 12, a rear portion 14, a front portion 16, and a top portion 18.

Two trays are illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2 arranged within the same horizontal plane, but it is to be understood that any number of trays 10 may be utilized within the same horizontal, side-by-side arrangement, and furthermore, that the trays 10 may be stacked vertically upon common rear vertical standards and/ or side vertical standards 22.

The display rack is formed entirely from wire or rodlike material and it is seen that the trays 10 are each made from a single length of wire, the bight whereof forms the uppermost horizontal edge of the U-shaped front portion 16. As shown in Fig. 2 of the drawing,

2,743,020 Patented Apr. 24, 1956 the two spaced, parallel lengths forming the bottom 12 of the tray 10, are preferably inclined downwardly as the rearmost ends of the bottom portion 12 are approached. Fig. 2 of the drawing also shows that the front portion 16 and rear portion 14 of the tray 10, are preferably perpendicular to the bottom portion 12 and that therefore, the same are inclined slightly with respect to the vertical. The two terminal ends of the wire forming tray 10 and presenting the top portion 18 of the tray, are likewise inclined downwardly as the rearmost ends of the top portion 18 are approached, top portion 18 being substantially parallel with the bottom portion 12 of tray 10.

Tray 10 that is substantially Z-shaped, as shown-in Fig. 2. of the drawing, is provided with supporting means that includes an elongated, horizontal member 24 joined directly to the two parallel, rearmost vertical standards 20, and to the top portion 18 of tray 10 over which it is disposed.

Means for supporting the bottom 12 of the tray 10 v includes a continuous length of wire that presents a bight portion in the nature of a horizontal member 26 underlying the bottom 12 and afiixed thereto. The support for bottom 12 of tray 10 extends upwardly in a pair of relatively short lengths 28 which terminate in relatively long, inclined elements 30 that overlie the horizontal member It is noted that the side, vertical standards 22 are connected to the spaced, parallel elements 30 intermediate the ends of the latter.

24 and are afiixed directly thereto.

The elements 30 present sides for the trays 10, and a substantially L-shaped partition 32 between the two trays 10 is aifixed to the horizontal members 24 and 26 to- 'cooperate with the elements 30 in presenting side means for holding the articles supported by the bottom portion- 12 against lateral displacement. If additional strength is desired, and if the manufacturer deems it advisable to ,additionally reinforce and support the rear portions 14 "of the trays 10, there may be provided a brace 34 joined to the rear portion 14 of trays 10 intermediate the ends thereof, the ends of the brace 34 being looped as at 36 and joined to the standards 20.

All-of the interconnections above mentioned are pref-' erably made by spot-welding and, it is now apparent that all points of connection are easily accessible by the welding types of automatic welding machines, thereby appreciablyreducing the cost of manufacture over conventional display rack structure.

Another feature that is to be noted in the display rack shown in Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawing, that there are no sharp ends in any of the wire elements that are exposed to a point where those using the rack might be injured. By vitrue of the fact that the rear portions 14 of the trays 10 are disposed forwardly of the vertical standards 20, articles having a height greater than the length of the rear portion 14 may be disposed upon the bottom portion 12 with the articles extending upwardly above the top portion 18. Such articles rest in an inclined,

position against the rear portion 14 and there is sufiicient space above the top portions 18 to clear the articles without engagement with the vertical standards 20 and tending to hold the articles away from the back portion 14.

Trays 50 of the modification shown in Fig. 3 of the drawing, are substantially the same as trays 10 except that the top portion 52 thereof is integral with a support broadly designated by the numeral 54 rather than with the rearmost portion of the tray 50. The zigzag shape of the supporting means 54, presents a horizontal member 56 for each tray 50 respectively, each of which is in turn joined to a vertical standard 58 comparable with the vertical standards 20.

The support 54 includes additionally,

a plurality of horizontal stretches 60 welded to the uppermost ends of the rear portions of the trays 50, and to a 'U-shaped support 62. The legs 64 of the supports 62 are comparable to the inclined elements 30, and the bight 66 of the support 62 correspond to the member 26 except that the bight 66 is joined to the front portion of the tray 50 rather than to the bottom portion as in the case of the form shown in Fig. 1 of the drawing.

In the modification of Fig. 3, the trays 50 are disposed forwardly of the rearmost standards 58 as in the case of trays 10, but in a different manner because of the utilization of the zigzag support 54. Here again, the inclined elements 64 are supported by side standards 68 comparable to standards 22.

It is manifest that the member 26 may be attached to the front portion 16 of trays and conversely, the bight member 66 may underlie the bottom of the tray 10 if desired. A straight partition wire 70 compares with the L-shaped partition wire 32 of Fig. l. The brace member 34 with its loops 36 may be duplicated in Fig. 3 if desired.

Trays 100 in the form shown by Fig. 4 of the drawing, are identical with trays 50, and a pair of spaced, parallel, horizontal members 102 and 104 are comparable to horizontal members 56 and 60 respectively of Fig. 3. Horizontal member 106, lengths 108 and inclined elements 110 in Fig. 4, are precisely the same as members 26, 28 and 30 in Fig. 1. The two inclined elements 110 are joined to vertical side standards 112, rear verticalstandards 114 are connected to the uppermost and rearmost horizontal member 102, and the two inclined elements 110, as well as a J-shaped partition 116, interconnect the two horizontal members 102 and 104. The back portions of the trays 100 are connected to the forwardmost horizontal member 104 and depends therefrom.

Trays 150 in the form of my invention shown in Fig. 5, are identical with trays 10, and are connected with horizontal members 152 and 154 precisely as shown in Fig. 1 of the drawing. However, the rearmost standards 20 of Fig. 1 have been eliminated in favor of a pair of vertical side standards 156 secured to each inclined element 158 respectively.

The construction of Fig. 5 of the drawings is to be preferred over Fig. 1 only in such circumstances which require clearance behind the trays 150. Vertical stacks of trays are oftentimes interconnected about a common center for presenting a rack rotatable on a vertical axis.

In these composite display rack assemblies, the center core is available for storage shelves and by utilizing the standards 156 it is not difficult to reach into the shelves and replenish the trays with magazines as the same are sold. It is to be noted however, that in both Figs. 1 and 5, there are no sharp edges presented which would tend to injure any workman making such transfer of the merchandise from the storage shelves behind the trays to the trays themselves.

Having thus described the invention what is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

In a display rack, a tray having an upwardly and rearwardly inclined back, a top extending rearwardly from the uppermost end of the back and a bottom extending forwardly from the lowermost end of the back, said bottom being downwardly and rearwardly inclined whereby articles resting thereon lean against said back; a tray support adapted to clear the uppermost end of said articles when the latter extend upwardly and rearwardly beyond the uppermost end of the back, said support comprising primary upright framework and secondary horizontal structure, said structure including a horizontal bottom supporting member, a horizontal top support element, and a substantially C-shaped, horizontal brace secured to the back and having a pair of opposed loops extending rearwardly from the back below said top and attached to said framework, said element being disposed rearwardly of said uppermost end of the back in spaced relationship thereto; means attaching the bottom to said member; means connecting the element with said framework; frame means interconnecting said member and said element, said frame means embracing the tray and being inclined downwardly and forwardly from said element, presenting sides for the tray; side standards secured to said frame means; and means joining the rearmost end of said top to the element.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS D. 162,397 Fink Mar. 13, 1951 D. 162,990 Roeder Apr. 17, 1951 767,022 Thorpe Aug. 9, 1904 1,014,487 Kinsley Jan. 9, 1912 1,184,246 Klein May 23, 1916 1,580,847 Moineau Apr. 13, 1926 2,286,831 Ressinger June 16, 1942 2,560,896 Rubenstein July 17, 1951 2,643,002 Rubenstein June 23, 1953 FOREIGN PATENTS 20,913 Great Britain 1908 

